The new year promises a new album from Ciara, but first, she looks back on her journey to stardom on MTV’s “This Is How I Made It.” In the 10-minute episode, the Atlanta singer reflects on the highs and lows of her career, her childhood, and her idols (Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, and Sade).

In high school, she ran track and did cheerleading, but her true passion was singing and dancing. She joined the girl group Hearsay before auditioning for L.A. Reid and getting signed to Arista Records. She recalls recording her debut single “Goodies,” which was originally titled “Cookies.”

“I was 17 years old so I really wanted to make sure that I spoke from the place that hopefully other young girls would identity with,” said CiCi.

The song hit No. 1, but Ciara was already thinking about her next hit. “I was so determined to just keep getting better,” she said.

But with the ups comes the downs. A honest Ciara opens up about the low sales of her 2010 album Basic Instinct.

“It’s definitely a little punch to the heart when something like that happens,” she said. “However, those are the moments that define you. I learned a lot not having the best days. I definitely didn’t think about quitting.”

Now Ciara is taking her experiences and channeling them into her new album One Woman Army. “I’ve got some scars, I done crashed a few times. When you learn to embrace those scars, you become stronger.”

She still has a long way to go. “I’m far from where I wanna go, but I’m excited about the journey ahead,” said an optimistic CiCi. “I wake up every day doing exactly what I wanna do and there’s no better feeling than that.”